Comments on: How to treat your blog like a business (and start actually making money!)

By: Eb Gargano

Eb Gargano — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 08:30:53 +0000

In reply to Roshel Madden. Great to hear you found my post helpful. And so good to hear you are finally seeing all your hard work start to pay off! I wish you every success with your blog :-D

By: Roshel Madden

Roshel Madden — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 08:17:21 +0000

Wow! So insightful. Thank you for this information. You are so right, treat your blogging business like a new cafe, it will take time to make a profit and see a return on investment! I’m a new mama looking to make some passive income. Trying to write more, be more authentic and be patient with myself! I started my blog during the 2020 pandemic and put tremendous pressure on myself to put all my time and money into my new blog, which unfortunately did not pay off. But 4yrs later, I’m still working at it and I’m seeing an uptick in my views and income. Granted I don’t blog full time, so I’m content with my progress.

By: Eb Gargano

Eb Gargano — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 08:08:08 +0000

In reply to David Myth. You are welcome. Couldn't agree more!

By: David Myth

David Myth — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 15:50:13 +0000

Thanks for the article! Blogging can be a business, and a profitable one at that.

By: Eb Gargano

Eb Gargano — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 08:44:16 +0000

In reply to Corinne DeNinno. Aw, thanks for this lovely comment, Corinne! I am so happy you are finding my website so helpful :-D

By: Corinne DeNinno

Corinne DeNinno — Sun, 23 Jan 2022 19:02:35 +0000

I have been reading and using a lot of your material to help me create plans to grow my blog. Thank you so much for everything! It is really helping me get on the right track.

By: Eb Gargano

Eb Gargano — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 09:39:27 +0000

In reply to shannon colclough.

Aw, it can be hard… but I think it really helps to have a good promotion routine… and also scheduling tools like CoSchedule and Tailwind make ALL the difference! Eb 🙂

By: shannon colclough

shannon colclough — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 23:10:11 +0000

Promoting my blog and maintaining promoting a blog I believe is by far the hardest!

By: Eb Gargano

Eb Gargano — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 11:02:37 +0000

In reply to Dave.

Hi Dave!

OK, so the first thing I would say is take care with that niche. It is incredibly difficult to make a lifestyle blog work these days (those who are successful have either been doing it for years, or are already celebrities). Most bloggers find the best and easiest way to grow a blog and be successful is by getting their blog on the first page of Google for lots of different search terms (this is called SEO).

The thing that worries my about your choice of blog topic is that I can’t imagine what search query (the thing your target reader might type into Google) would lead them to your blog posts… and that makes me worry that you might struggle to get much traffic with a blog like that. And without decent traffic, it’s pretty much impossible to monetise. I really recommend you think long and hard about your niche before you go ahead… this decision can literally make or break your blog. Check out this post for more help on picking a good niche >>> https://www.productiveblogging.com/how-to-choose-the-right-niche-for-your-blog/

Now, to answer your question on monetisation. There are broadly 5 ways to monetise a blog ads, affiliate links, sponsored posts, products and services. You can find more about that here >>> https://www.productiveblogging.com/how-do-blogs-make-money/

To get ads on your site, you work with an ad management company. I use one called Mediavine. You can find out how that all works here >>> https://www.productiveblogging.com/make-money-with-mediavine-ads/ the catch is that to work with an ad company that pays well, you need a lot of traffic! Mediavine requires 50,000 pageviews per month and with that level of pageviews you can expect around $500-$1000 dollars per month. (To make the really good money, you obviously need more pageviews!)

But to even get 50,000 pageviews, you need to work really hard on your SEO as really the only way to get that level of traffic is by showing up in a lot of Google search results. Which takes me neatly back to the first point.. that I am worried about your chosen niche and would anyone actually be searching on Google for that?

To find out more about SEO, check out this post >>> https://www.productiveblogging.com/start-a-profitable-blog/

And to get my step by step plan for starting a new blog from scratch, check out this post >>> https://www.productiveblogging.com/beginners-guide-seo/

Hope that helps! And do let me know how you get on. Eb 🙂

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 13:24:36 +0000

Hi,
Thank you for your tips.
I have been running my own fitness business for over 12 years and have had enough and want a new challenge.
I love writing and want to start a blog. I am in the process of setting it up at the moment.
One of the things I loved when training clients was finding out about their lives. We all have interesting stories to tell.
The blog I am setting up is called ‘Ordinary People’. It will focus on the lives of those we perceive to be just “ordinary people”.
So, a ‘lifestyle’ blog.
Yes, I would like to make some money out of it (doesn’t have to be lots lol), but not really sure how.
I am not the most techno savvy so forgive me if I ask a stupid question. Can I allocate advertising space on my site around the borders for example? Is that considered an acceptable way to do it? Does the amount you charge (wouldn’t have a clue how much that would be) depend on the traffic you generate? Can others see how many people have read a blog? Or does it go by subscribers?
Any more snippets of info you could give me would be much appreciated.
Thanks for your time.
Dave ?